Biological and Chemical Weapons

Kurdish authorities in Iraq said Saturday they have evidence that the Islamic State group used chlorine gas as a chemical weapon against peshmerga fighters, the latest alleged atrocity carried out by the extremist organization now under attack in Tikrit. The allegation by the Kurdistan Region Security Council, stemming from a Jan. 23 suicide truck bomb attack in northern Iraq, did not immediately draw a reaction from the Islamic State group, which holds a third of Iraq and neighboring Syria in its self-declared caliphate. However, Iraqi officials and Kurds fighting in Syria have made similar allegations about the militants using the low-grade chemical weapons against them. In a...

Related "Biological and Chemical Weapons" Articles

Kurdish authorities in Iraq said Saturday they have evidence that the Islamic State group used chlorine gas as a chemical weapon against peshmerga fighters, the latest alleged atrocity carried out by the extremist organization now under attack in Tikrit....

The United States is about to begin destroying its largest remaining stockpile of chemical-laden artillery shells, marking a milestone in the global campaign to eradicate a debilitating weapon that still creeps into modern wars.
The Pueblo Chemical Depot...

The global chemical-weapons watchdog found evidence that chlorine gas was used "systematically and repeatedly" as a weapon in northern Syria, where witnesses described poison barrel bombs crashing into their villages from the sky, the agency...

The Obama administration, overcoming its sensible caution about intervening in Syria, now looks determined to take military action in response to Bashar Assad's apparent use of chemical weapons. It's obvious that whatever we do may not...

President Barack Obama drew a clear red line last August when he threatened direct military action if Syrian President Bashar Assad unleashed chemical or biological weapons against rebels seeking to topple him:
"We cannot have a situation in which...

by Mark Silva Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who attempted to overhaul the nation's healthcare insurance as first lady during the first term of her husband, former President Bill Clinton, has a couple of words for President Barack Obama's success...

by Mark Silva and updated at 1:30 pm with statement As President Barack Obama prepares to travel to Prague this week to sign a new START agreement with Russia, the administration today is unveiling new guidelines for the deployment of...

by Mark Silva and updated One year after the signing into law of a $787-billion economic stimulus bill, Republicans still are asking, 'Where are the jobs?' -- while Democrats accuse the GOP of enjoying the benefits of the act back...

Sometimes it is the aggregate of the news, more than a particular story, that ushers in a shock, a realization that things are perhaps worse than they seem.
The headlines in the fourth week of March reminded us we are a nation still at war. It's easy...

WASHINGTON -- The New York Times report that the George W. Bush administration discovered old chemical bombs and rockets in Iraq and withheld the knowledge "from troops it sent into harm's way" is an echo of the discussion over alleged new...

BEIRUT — The initial consignment of Syria's most toxic chemical weapons material was shipped out of the country Tuesday, international officials said, advancing a cleanup effort widely seen as a success in the midst of a long civil war that has cost...

If the Nobel Peace Prize were awarded to the most inspiring triumph of reason over brutality, 16-year-old Malala Yousafzai would be booking a flight to Oslo.
The Pakistani schoolgirl's activism for education and equality in defiance of Taliban bullets...

BEIRUT—The historic destruction of Syria’s chemical weapons arsenal began on Sunday, as a team of disarmament experts hastened to comply with an international mandate to eliminate the nation’s massive chemical stockpiles by mid-2014.
Syrian personnel...

WASHINGTON -- President Obama travels Monday to New York for a meeting of the United Nations General Assembly, where he is scheduled to sit down with world leaders and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. He will also address the General Assembly, focusing...

WASHINGTON – The U.S.-Russian plan for the removal or destruction of Syria’s chemical weapons, hailed as a diplomatic breakthrough just days ago, appeared to run into trouble Wednesday as the Obama administration backed off a deadline for the Syrian...

A United Nations report concluding that chemical weapons were used in Syria on Aug. 21 contains evidence pointing to Syrian President Bashar Assad's forces as the perpetrators, the U.S. and British ambassadors to the world body said Monday.
U.N....

WASHINGTON — The White House faces the strong possibility of a defeat over Syria that could seriously damage the president for the rest of his tenure, a peril the administration will battle this week as members of Congress return to work and open a...

WASHINGTON – President Obama has to persuade not just Congress on military intervention in Syria. New polling shows the American public is highly skeptical of the administration’s plan for limited missile strikes in response to the alleged use of chemical...

WASHINGTON—Several key Republican senators strongly indicated Sunday that they will not vote to give President Obama authorization for a missile attack on Syria unless the White House first lays out “a strategy and a plan” to stop the Bashar Assad...